Final report for Transition ’s Million Miles project – April 2015

1 - Our starting point ...... 5 A project led by Transition Black Isle...... 5 Ambition for the Million Miles project...... 5 Baseline travel patterns on the Black Isle ...... 5 Public launch of the Million Miles campaign ...... 6 2 - Our headline achievements...... 7 Background to the Million Miles project...... 7 Encouraging cycling...... 7 Community mapping...... 8 Fuel efficient driving...... 9 Liftsharing ...... 9 Public transport ...... 9 Reductions in car travel and environmental impact ...... 10 Legacy of the Million Miles project...... 11 Learning and reflection ...... 11 3 - Our outputs ...... 12 The Million Miles team ...... 12 Key directors of Transition Black Isle ...... 12 Project Officers...... 12 Project consultants, part-time employees and volunteers ...... 12 Encouraging active travel...... 13 Community Cycle Trainers ...... 13 Cycling events...... 14 Loans of folding bikes ...... 17 Installing bike racks...... 17 Supporting applications for cycle paths...... 18 Black Isle Bike Fest ...... 18 Cycling in Rural Conference...... 19 Cycle Friendly Communities...... 19 Black Isle Bicycles...... 19 Community mapping...... 20 The challenge of community mapping ...... 20 OpenStreetMap was the solution for the Million Miles project ...... 20 Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Encouraging contributions to OpenStreetMap...... 20 Surveying routes between communities...... 21 Improvements to OpenStreetMap...... 21 Online journey planner – cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org...... 21 Downloadable route cards - Community Cycle Links ...... 22 Travel map of the Black Isle ...... 23 Fuel efficient driving...... 24 Liftsharing ...... 24 Developing a journey matching website...... 25 Launching .liftshare.com...... 25 Ongoing promotion ...... 26 Liftshare Week (October 2013 and October 2014) ...... 26 Growth in membership...... 26 Public transport ...... 27 Bus voucher promotions ...... 27 Out & About events ...... 28 Bus bike rack scheme ...... 28 Promoting the Million Miles project...... 29 4 - Our outcomes ...... 31 Monitoring strategy...... 31 Initial approach to monitoring...... 31 Improved monitoring process ...... 31 Response rate for household travel surveys...... 32 Follow-up interviews to determine behaviour changes ...... 33 Encouraging active travel...... 33 Behaviour changes...... 34 Improved health ...... 34 Anecdotal evidence of increased cycling ...... 34 Community mapping...... 36 Improved safety...... 36 Fuel efficient driving...... 37 Outcomes from fuel efficiency training...... 37 Behaviour changes...... 37 Liftsharing ...... 38 Outcomes from highland.liftshare.com ...... 38

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Behaviour changes...... 38 Anecdotal evidence of increased liftsharing ...... 39 Public transport ...... 39 Behaviour changes...... 39 Changes to car travel...... 40 Reductions in car mileage ...... 40 Reduced congestion ...... 40 Savings in greenhouse gas emissions...... 40 Overall savings in greenhouse gas emissions from travel changes...... 41 Unexpected project outcomes...... 41 Overall project feedback...... 42 Legacy of the Million Miles project...... 43 5 - Learning and reflections...... 45 Encouraging cycling...... 45 Community Cycle Trainers ...... 45 Cycling events...... 46 Working with schools ...... 46 Community mapping...... 46 Fuel efficient driving...... 47 Liftsharing ...... 47 Public transport ...... 48 Promoting the Million Miles project...... 48 Outcome monitoring ...... 49 Final thoughts from directors of Transition Black Isle ...... 50 6 - Finance and administration ...... 52 Project management...... 52 Support from the Climate Challenge Fund...... 52 Project budget ...... 52 Other sources of funding secured...... 52 7 – Summary of outputs ...... 55 8 - Report authors ...... 56

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The Black Isle is a peninsula in the bound by the and the Firth. Transition Black Isle was formed in February 2009 and became a company and registered charity in 2011. Membership is open to anyone who either lives or operates on the Black Isle and agrees with our objectives to: a) Raise awareness of the issues associated with the twin challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change and the consequent need to develop a low carbon, sustainable future through ethical, social, cultural, economic, environmental and community action; b) Promote, encourage and support the development of education and research concerning areas affected by resource depletion; c) Support and encourage local action on Peak Oil and Climate Change. Transition Black Isle is managed by a group of directors with a broad range of expertise, including finance and business, community and rural development, graphic design, academic research, participatory appraisal, health work, charity and local authority work. Sub-groups are responsible for the day to day planning and implementation of projects.

Transition Black Isle previously delivered two Climate Challenge Fund projects (CCF 501 and CCF 727) and we were keen to continue working towards helping the Black Isle adjust to the challenges we will face as energy becomes scarce and the impacts of climate change grow. In late 2011, interest in sustainable transport options was growing, fuelled by forthcoming major repairs to the Kessock Bridge connecting the Black Isle to . Enthusiasm amongst the Transition Black Isle membership led to an application to the Climate Challenge Fund for a sustainable transport campaign. © Peter Elbourne Our application was successful and the Million Miles project commenced in April 2012. The overall aim of the campaign was to cut local residents’ annual car travel by 1% – equivalent to one million miles – through the promotion of greener alternatives. The focus would be on three key areas: active travel, greener car travel and public transport. Travel behaviour is deeply entrenched and so Transition Black Isle wanted to run the Million Miles campaign over three years to gain momentum.

The first phase of the project was to establish a baseline for travel on the Black Isle by conducting a survey. Around 8% of the 1,800 questionnaires distributed to local

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 schools, markets and shops were returned by June 2012. The responses can be summarised as follows: • Car travel Almost all households on the Black Isle owned at least one car (97%), driving 13,600 miles per year on average; • Public transport The majority of households used public transport during the previous week (58%), with half travelling by bus and just over a quarter travelling by train; • Air travel Most households took at least one domestic, European or long-haul flight during 2011 (63%); • Active travel Almost all households took at least one journey by active travel in the previous week – 86% walked and 41% cycled – and the majority of households owned at least one bike (83%). The total average distance travelled by each household surveyed was just over 27,000 miles per year, 48% of which was by car. This was equivalent to 7.3 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per household. Emissions from car travel accounts for 67% of the total travel footprint, which reinforced the need to encourage modal shifts to active travel and public transport whenever possible. A comprehensive report on the baseline survey findings can be downloaded from the Transition Black Isle website. (www.transitionblackisle.org/travelchallenge.asp). However, it is important to note that these figures are effectively a snapshot of travel on the Black Isle at the start of the project. As can be seen in the section on outcome monitoring (p31), households engaged during the project were asked to complete Travel Checks to provide a starting reference for future changes in travel behaviour. Data from these Travel Checks were then combined with the baseline survey results to provide a community baseline.

We generated considerable interest at the outset of the project by devising a media friendly launch event on 28th August 2012 at . Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson, led a cycle over the Kessock Bridge from Inverness along with a range of our project supporters, including the Velocity bike project backed by the Climate Challenge Fund. Local primary school children were also involved, bringing their bikes and modelling our branded hi-vis vests, which provided a colourful and cheerful back drop to the proceedings. A formal meeting at the Community Hall gave an opportunity to introduce the project to potential project partners and generally get things off to a © Peter Tilbrook positive and collaborative start.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The Million Miles project was a sustainable travel campaign delivered by Transition Black Isle between 2012 and 2015 with funding from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund. Following on from previous projects to cut carbon emissions and build community resilience, Transition Black Isle wanted to cut local car travel by 1% per year – equivalent to one million miles – by encouraging active travel, promoting greener car travel and improving access to public transport. The project was officially launched in North Kessock in August © Ian Rhind 2012. The Million Miles team comprised two Project Officers sharing a full-time role – Peter Elbourne and Marion McDonald – and several consultants supporting media relations and financial administration. The campaign was overseen by three directors of Transtion Black Isle: Martin Sherring, Richard Robinson and Wendy Price. The project also benefitted from the many volunteers who helped us deliver a wide range of activities.

Cycling was integral to the Million Miles project. Over the course of the project, 15 Community Cycle Trainers were trained and employed for just a few hours a week. A total of 471 active travel events were delivered over 30 months, with cumulative attendance reaching 5,369 participants. Most of the events organised were skills training (e.g. on-road awareness, basic cycle techniques for children, bike maintenance) and awareness raising (e.g. social group rides, led commuter cycles). One of our most successful initiatives was the Bike Bus accompanying pupils from Fortrose to Avoch Primary School along the old railway line. The events organised by the Community Cycle Trainers received overwhelmingly positive feedback and helped to raise the profile of cycling on the Black Isle. The largest event we organised during our campaign was the Black Isle Bike Fest in April 2013. It was attended by 600 people and © Gerry McCann helped publicise the project. We had folding bikes available to loan for people who wanted to try combining cycling with car travel or public transport and we successfully installed bike racks at key locations across the Black Isle. Our project team also collaborated with other community groups to lobby for new designated cycle paths on the Black Isle. A feasibility study was completed for a path to connect Avoch and Munlochy and we hope to secure funding for a second scoping report for a route from to Conon Bridge.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 In March 2014, we organised the Cycling in Rural Scotland Conference to promote better and safer rural cycling. It included presentations and workshops on topics such as cycling events, community links and mapping and was attended by a range of national organisations and community groups. One of the outcomes of the conference was that the Black Isle successfully applied to be one of Cycling Scotland’s Cycle Friendly Community pilot projects. We are focusing on participation and safety for cyclists in the Avoch and Fortrose area, continuing through summer 2015. Another spin-off from the Million Miles project is Black Isle Bicycles: Transition Black Isle’s social enterprise offering mobile bike hire, route advice and maintenance. Amongst the households who were interviewed during two monitoring phases in late 2013 and early 2015 to determine changes made to travel behaviour, 44% stated that they were cycling more. The average increase to bike use can be extrapolated to an additional 131,049 miles cycled every year across all the households engaged during the campaign. Similarly, 43% of interviewed households were walking more, totalling an extra 74,196 miles walked a year. We had considerable anecdotal feedback from our Community Cycle Trainers of the changes individuals had made, both in terms of increased bike use and improved fitness. Comments we received also suggest that cycling is more common on the Black Isle. A wider outcome of the project was to improve health and we are confident that the boost to physical activity from increased active travel will have continued benefits.

One of the aims of the Million Miles project was to create an active travel map of the Black Isle and this objective evolved into a collection of resources to help people find good routes for cycling. Transition Black Isle used the editable online map OpenStreetMap to gather details about routes and we encouraged local people to contribute information and improve the base map of the area. Further © Katherine Elbourne improvements were made when our community mapping intern – Lachlan McKeggie – surveyed and mapped quiet and off-road routes between villages across the Black Isle. This information was used to create a series of route cards forming a network of thirteen Community Cycle Links that are available to download from the Transition Black Isle website. Another online resource was our cycling journey planner– cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org – that calculates quiet routes for cycling from A to B using OpenStreetMap data. We published our Black Isle Travel Map in March 2015 and delivered a copy to over 8,300 households on the Black Isle. Produced by local cartographer Helen Stirling, the map included suggested cycle routes, public transport information, amenities and detailed inset village maps. Although the impact of our community mapping activity is difficult to quantity, we received anecdotal evidence that local people were using our range of online resources to plan active travel journeys. Our maps, route guides and journey planners will also help people find safer ways to cycle around the Black Isle, helping achieve our project outcome of improving safety for cyclists.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

In addition to general promotion of fuel efficient driving techniques, the Million Miles team organised training via Home Energy Scotland to help the many households on the Black Isle that depend on their cars. We held eight days of training during the project, where drivers completed a tailored one-to-one session with a qualified instructor. The average improvement in fuel economy achieved by the 54 drivers who took part was 16%, which equates to estimated savings

of £265 and 479kg CO2e per year. Feedback was extremely positive and participants felt that the © Peter Elbourne sessions would help them implement changes. Across the households completing follow-up interviews, 53% said that they had changed their driving style to conserve fuel. Factoring in likely improvements to fuel economy and the stated frequency of the changes, the average fuel saving per household was estimated to be 5.1%.

Encouraging liftsharing was central to our campaign and at the end of 2012 we launched our journey matching website – highland.liftshare.com. Publicity campaigns ahead of major roadworks on the Kessock Bridge and during Liftshare Week helped boost membership and we continually promoted highland.liftshare.com to local employers and at public events. By March 2015, total membership had reached 726 people and there were 829 journeys registered, of which 191 originated on the Black Isle. Over the households completing follow-up surveys, 23% stated that they were liftsharing more with friends and © Ewen Wetherspoon relatives. We also received several comments that suggest liftsharing had become more commonplace over the course of the project, which can be attributed to increased awareness of carpooling following the heavy promotion of highland.liftshare.com.

The Million Miles project aimed to raise awareness of public transport options on the Black Isle. We promoted the advantages of rail travel and our campaign benefitted from improved services on the Black Isle when the Conon Bridge station reopened ahead of the Kessock Bridge repairs. The majority of our efforts were focused © Peter Elbourne on bus travel and we organised several voucher promotions with Stagecoach Highland. We developed a successful format for local transport events, organising Out & About days in four Black Isle communities that were attended by around 320 people. In 2013, we worked with the Highland Council, HITrans Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 and Stagecoach Highland to pilot a bus bike rack scheme on a Black Isle route and this will continue in 2015. The households completing the follow-up process were using public transport more: 28% stated they were using buses more and 25% said that rail travel had increased. The average increase in mileage is equivalent to an extra 196,077 bus miles and 404,718 train miles over all the households engaged during the project.

All project activity aimed to ultimately cut car miles. The impact of the Million Miles project was monitored by encouraging Black Isle households to complete travel surveys and then conducting interviews with a proportion of the households engaged to determine changes. The average baseline car mileage per household surveyed over the duration of the project was 14,643 miles and, during follow-up interviews, 43% stated that car use had gone down. The average decrease amongst the households cutting car miles was 29%, equivalent to 1,499 miles a year for each follow-up household. This is extrapolated across all households engaged during the project to a decrease of 1,352,277 car miles, which is a reduction of 1.1% across the entire Black Isle. Therefore, the campaign exceeded its two principle targets of cutting car travel by 1% or 1,000,000 miles. An additional project outcome was reduced congestion, particularly during the Kessock Bridge repairs. However, congestion problems turned out not to be too serious and it is possible that the efforts of the Million Miles campaign contributed to reduced traffic build-up before the bridge. Combining changes to household vehicles with improvements in fuel efficiency, the average greenhouse gas emissions from car travel across the households completing

the follow-up process was 4.4t CO2e a year, a saving of -0.8t CO2e or -16% per household. This is equivalent to -766.6t CO2e across all households engaged during the Million Miles campaign. The overall environmental impact of the Million Miles campaign can be estimated by balancing the direct emissions saved from cuts to personal car use against the

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 additional indirect emissions arising from more use of public transport. Offsetting 48.8t

CO2e for increased use of public transport against the -766.6t CO2e saved from car usage, the net greenhouse gas savings of the Million Miles project are -717.8t CO2e. Assuming travel behaviours remain in place for three years after the Million Miles project, the lifetime emissions savings are 2,153.5t CO2e.

Some project activity will continue to be of value beyond the end of the project, including our active travel resources, cycling infrastructure, bike schemes at Cromarty and Fortrose, volunteer cycling trainers and highland.liftshare.com. Furthermore, other initiatives connected to the Million Miles project will build on our legacy, including Black Isle Bicycles, the Cycle Friendly Community pilot and any new designated cycle paths that may be constructed following on from the feasibility work we oversaw.

We hope to share a lot of valuable lessons learned during the project. A wealth of useful information has been gathered and resources created that would potentially benefit other sustainable transport projects going forward. Individuals involved in Transition Black Isle will remain happy to talk to other groups and pass on information and experience where possible. In very general terms, we have learned that it is possible to change travel behaviour and reduce car miles, even in a rural area. Our approach of offering a broad range of options and practical, positive solutions proved to be an effective way to address this challenging issue and engage with many local people, of all ages. Support of a large team of specialist, though mostly very part time, staff and exceptional volunteers all contributed to making this level of activity and © Peter Elbourne engagement possible.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The Million Miles project involved a large and diverse team of people who all played a part in the wealth of activity delivered and the successful outcomes achieved by the project in less than three years. Key directors of Transition Black Isle Three directors of Transition Black Isle were heavily involved in steering the Million Miles project and line managing the Project Officer role. Wendy Price, Martin Sherring and Richard Robinson contributed many hundreds of hours of voluntary time and considerable effort in overseeing the project, moving it forward and keeping it on track. They have all been involved in other Transition Black Isle projects during the Million Miles campaign and their own backgrounds and experience in cartography, accountancy and rural development proved invaluable. Other directors and group members have also been extremely helpful during the project, including – but not limited to – Julian Paren, Anne Thomas, Maggie Dove, Helen Robinson and John Wood. Project Officers The staff team included one full-time equivalent Project Officer role which was job shared by Peter Elbourne and Marion McDonald. Their combined experience of environmental projects and community development allowed them to tackle the range of challenging elements which made up the project – from promoting liftsharing with local businesses, to © Ewen Wetherspoon encouraging school children to cycle safely. Job sharing the post was certainly a benefit as it provided support and additional capacity in such a diverse role. Benefits included simple practicalities of having two people on hand at larger scale events, sharing experience and © Catriona Ross focussing on particular skills. Project consultants, part-time employees and volunteers The team had the support of a part-time bookkeeper Carolyn Gethin (www.nessnumbers.co.uk). This was very useful in terms of preparing claims and keeping track of budgets and spending. It was considerably more efficient for Carolyn to manage these matters than either of the Project Officers. Support for PR was built in to the project from the outset. This was an important element of additional, specialist support and critical in a behaviour change campaign focusing on the challenging theme of travel. Initially Teen Ross delivered the PR function. She had a key role in the initial launch of the project, securing mass media coverage and a ministerial visit, and in launching highland.liftshare.com, again securing significant media coverage. Teen was also involved in devising the project branding, developing our social media strategy and providing a very useful steer to the project staff on effective publicity. Sadly, Teen withdrew from the project for health reasons and there was 12 months when no PR support was available. Gerry McCann was brought in on a six month contract in 2014 and he led on publishing our project newspaper – the Million Miles Messenger – and creating promotional videos. Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Last, but not least, the team of Community Cycle Trainers was a crucial component of the project. The full list of trainers who were involved at some stage of the campaign is: Lizbeth Collie, Simon Harry, Shirley Kelly, Willie Mackintosh, Giles Makins, Jim McBride, Colin Morrison, Tracy Robertson, Pete Rochford, Kerry Sinclair, Owen Smith, Gill Tasker, Anne Thomas, Mari Todd, Sheila Wickens and Jake Williams. They averaged around 80 hours per year each and brought a wealth of experience and perspectives to the role, from family leisure cycling and cycle commuting, to downhill mountain bikers and mechanics. The common link was their passion for cycling and willingness to pass on their skills and enthusiasm to others. The project also benefitted from volunteers who engaged at different stages and on different topics: support with mapping, cycle training, cycle rides, installing bike racks, helping out at events, putting up posters, advising and providing support and encouragement along the way. All their efforts were all much appreciated and we are particularly grateful to Annie Hamilton for helping during a busy period in late 2014.

Community Cycle Trainers Promoting cycling was a key element of the Million Miles project, both as an alternative to car travel and a means of improving health. The innovative approach taken by Transition Black Isle was to employ a large number of very part-time Community Cycle Trainers (CCTs) throughout the Black Isle who would be trained and then go on to deliver cycling activities in their local area, in schools and in the wider community. The © Catriona Ross intention was to make people more confident and safer on the roads through skills training, accompanied bike rides and maintenance sessions, in order to increase the uptake of cycling. The first six trainers were recruited in June 2012 and completed their Cycling Scotland Cycle Trainer Plus training in August 2012. A further six trainers were recruited in February 2013 and trained in March of that year. Due to various changes in circumstances over the course of the project, we recruited a further three trainers in early 2014 to replace others who were no longer available. The cycling element of the Million Miles project has resulted in a significant number of locally based qualified Cycle Trainers (15 of our CCTs, plus one volunteer), trained bike mechanics (10 of our CCTs, plus six local volunteers) and trained Trail Cycle Leaders (12 of our CCTs).

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 The CCT team was tremendously successful. They delivered a wide range of cycling events and activities throughout the project area during the 30 months of the Million Miles project, contributing to skills, confidence and participation in cycling and generally raising the profile of cycling in the Black Isle. Cycling events The campaign aimed to focus on improving skills and increasing confidence among children and adults to encourage more people to cycle for leisure, health and for practical journeys. The main activities identified initially were skills training, accompanied cycles and maintenance. Our target at the outset of the Million Miles project was to organise 192 cycling events. Between summer 2012 and March 2015, we delivered a total of 471 active travel events with a total attendance of 3,401 children and 1,968 adults (cumulative participants not unique individuals). Events were distributed across the whole of the Black Isle. Over 30 events were held in each of seven communities, with campaigners in Avoch organising the most (98 events with 1,812 attendees). The Million Miles team organised a total of 230 events that we classified as cycle training or workshops. Skills training was delivered in various settings, mostly aimed at children but also in more limited numbers with adults. The aim of all skills training is to create more confident cyclists who are better able to deal with on-road cycling conditions and therefore more likely to choose to travel by bike for fun or for practical journeys. © OpenStreetMap contributors We organised 239 events categorised as awareness raising rather than offering direct instruction. However, social group rides generally provided skills training and advice but in an informal, practical context: demonstrating and discussing issues such as road position and signalling where appropriate during a ride, assessing participants needs and providing relevant support and advice on the move. Adult sessions targeted commuters and social groups. Sessions for commuters initially had very low uptake but the small numbers who attended sessions in 2013 received very personal, tailored support and gave very positive feedback on the usefulness of the sessions. Workplace sessions in 2014 saw far greater interest and uptake (a typical increase from two to eight participants) and again had positive feedback from those taking part.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Specific requests for one-to-one skills and confidence training have also occurred in limited numbers but with demonstrable success. An advantage of the community based trainers is that anecdotal follow-up is obtainable from personal contact so the trainers tend to be well aware of local cyclists and can genuinely see where these skill sessions have led to more cycling. Skills training for kids has been delivered in a variety of formats ranging from after school sessions, Saturday morning coaching, evening skill/games sessions, cub/scout/guides sessions, holiday sessions (organised independently or as part of the Highlife/Leisure Centre programme), as well as through the Bikeability structure, where support was given when asked for the on road aspects of the training. Generally uptake has been good and feedback very positive. Most successful have been sessions which offer skills training in the context of cycling games, activities and © Marion McDonald rides, with elements of maintenance also offered. Sessions which have been organised as a result of a direct request from the community have also generally had very good uptake. Delivering sessions to cubs and scouts has involved a steep learning curve in terms of adapting the requirements of their badges to something meaningful in terms of proper cycling skills; also creating fun activities to get messages across in the sometimes boisterous environment. The benefit is that the youth group leaders also gain skills and confidence which they can continue to put to use in the longer term. Mountain bike skills sessions at Learnie were offered in the summer period to encourage off road cycling for leisure. These were popular with younger kids but had very disappointing uptake for adults and older teens. Group social rides have been led throughout the area – with mixed results in terms of uptake particularly. Sessions advertised in Munlochy and Fortrose never got off the ground due to lack of participants; sessions in Culbokie, Avoch and Muir of Ord have seen small numbers take part though the Muir and recent Avoch sessions © Catriona Ross which targeted parents with time available during school/nursery hours were probably the most successful in terms of generating a renewed and then continued interest in cycling. This success was due to offering an informal, non- competitive environment, tailored to needs and often run by and for women, who would not have considered joining a cycling club. Timing sessions when parents had some time available was also an appealing factor. The Slow Cycle Club in Cromarty was probably the most successful in terms of regular participation and sustained interest. This was a group aiming to combine gentle exercise and a bit of fun, led by a retired GP with mobility problems who sees the club as a way to improve the health of some of the

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 more inactive residents. The club intends to continue its operations beyond the funded project. In general – but not entirely – social rides have been successful when they have been community-led in terms of a specific request to set something up in an area. They have also succeeded when they targeted the non-cyclist who would not be likely at this stage to join a cycling club but who appreciates the social, supportive and motivating aspects of cycling with others. Attempts to offer accompanied commutes to Inverness from the Black Isle, as well as advertised group cycles in to the city on a Sunday to explore safe routes had very little uptake and highlight some of the barriers to cycle commuting for those in a rural area where distances and concerns for road safety are off-putting for many. Our most successful accompanied cycle rides to date have undoubtedly been the Bike Bus accompanying school pupils from Fortrose to Avoch Primary. This started off as a one-off event in June 2013, then continued weekly in the August-October term of that year, linked to an after-school cycling club. When the school decided to participate in the Sustrans Big Pedal challenge in

March 2014 we agreed to help to © Gerry McCann organise the Bike Bus daily for two weeks in March. This was very successful with a total of 60 pupils and 15 adults taking part on the final day. The bike Bus went on to operate twice a week in the summer and autumn terms. Feedback from the school, from parents and pupils has been incredibly positive. We know that senior pupils are continuing to cycle to school independently along this route and that many parents are continuing to cycle the route with their own children. There is also now demand for group cycle rides in the area among this group of parents who had not previously been interested in social cycling. Another great aspect of the Bike Bus was that we secured some volunteers from Fortrose Academy to help accompany the cycle during their study leave in May, which will hopefully be repeated if sufficient parent volunteers can be engaged to organise the scheme in summer 2015. Maintenance sessions were seen as an important element of Million Miles cycle delivery. The intention was to give people confidence to deal with minor road and trail side repairs as well as to get their bikes back in use and on the road and to keep them running smoothly. In Year 1 we delivered a number of Dr Bike sessions at events and community markets on an ad hoc basis buying in help and expertise from other groups like Velocity and New Start Bikes. In Year 2 we secured additional project funding so that we could train up some of the CCTs as Velotech bike mechanics in order © Peter Elbourne to provide these services on a more regular basis ourselves. In

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 2014 we were therefore able to provide Dr Bike service at all the community markets (three per month, in Cromarty, Culbokie and North Kessock) in order to give people the opportunity to receive advice, basic repairs and maintenance so they can get and keep their bike on the road through a free and accessible service. We also delivered six series of evening bike maintenance classes in various locations. These courses have received excellent feedback and are a good activity to offer in the winter. We have also offered bike checks and Dr Bike services at a wide range of community events and at schools. In Cromarty the Dr Bike sessions at the local market have led to the creation of a community bike loan scheme – people started to donate their old bikes to our local trainer/mechanic who also had some storage space donated which has enabled him to fix up the bikes and make them available on loan to others in the community. All schools in the project area have received support from the project on some level ranging from cycling sessions (during or after school), support with on-road cycle training, staff training, fundraising support (for Academy bike fleet) and – in the case of Avoch Primary and Cromarty Primary – there has been ongoing support in developing their School Travel Plans. Working closely with the School Travel Group at Avoch has resulted in infrastructure improvements (four new covered bike racks installed by Highland Council) and a range of other actions have been identified to improve road safety around the school and encourage more active travel. Cromarty Primary’s plan is nearly complete and the whole school has been involved in a range of activity to promote active travel throughout the past year. Loans of folding bikes In spring 2014 we purchased two Dahon folding bikes with the intention of loaning them to local residents to allow people to experiment with different combinations of travel – bike and bus or bike and liftsharing, for example. The bikes were loaned out six times and at least one loan resulted in the borrower going ahead to buy his own folding bike. The loans were advertised on social media and through the Transition Black Isle newsletter but would have benefitted from further publicity to increase the uptake. The bikes will continue to be available on loan after the project finishes through Transition Black Isle volunteers and the Black Isle Bicycle project; one will be available for the community to borrow on the current basis and the other will

© Richard Robinson become an experimental addition to the Black Isle Bicycle hire fleet. Installing bike racks The project had an aim of installing cycle parking near bus stops throughout the Black Isle to encourage joined up journeys by bike and bus. In consultation with community councils, locations were selected and agreement reached with Highland Council regarding the installation. This proved to be a surprisingly laborious process as there were many unforeseen issues relating to service locations, planning, etc. Even so, the Million Miles team has overseen the © Marion McDonald

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 installation of an initial 20 racks near bus stops and other useful public places in Resolis, Muir of Ord, Avoch and North Kessock. Further locations have been identified at Tore, Munlochy and Conon Bridge – the racks have been purchased and the council will install them in the near future. Our sister project Black Isle Bicycles (p19) has also installed racks in Fortrose, Culbokie and Cromarty. Therefore, between the two projects Transition Black Isle has been able to provide cycle parking in every Black Isle village, where virtually none existed before. A Commonwealth Games Legacy Bike Rack will also be installed in Fortrose as a result of our Cycle Friendly Community project (p19). Supporting applications for cycle paths In general our cycling promotion focussed on encouraging people to make the most of current cycling opportunities on the Black Isle – but we have also worked with other community groups to try to improve the infrastructure for cyclists in the area. We secured additional funding from the Lottery Investing in Ideas fund in 2013 for a feasibility study to be carried out on creating a cycle path between Avoch and Munlochy and, working with Highland Council, went on to secure 50% funding for this route from the Sustrans Community Links scheme. Unfortunately a lack of agreement from local landowners has meant that this project has not yet gone ahead, though Highland Council and Transition Black Isle will continue to negotiate and lobby for this route to be created (the funding is available for another 12 months). We also worked with local groups in 2015 to submit a bid to Sustrans for feasibility funding for routes from Muir of Ord to Conon Bridge and on to Corntown. The result of this application will be known in April 2015, and if successful will be taken forward by Highland Council. Black Isle Bike Fest In April 2013 we launched our season of cycling activities with the Black Isle Bike Fest in Fortrose. We secured additional funding from Awards for All and the Co-op which allowed us to book the Clan bike display team as well as the Airbag, a pump track and a range of other activities provided by ourselves and other local groups (including demonstrations of tandems, e-bikes, balance bikes, a unicycle and even a penny farthing, bike repairs, bike security marking, art activities, etc.). The event was a tremendous success with around 600 people attending. It was a great profile raiser for the project and for local cycling more generally and went on to inspire similar events in the Black Isle, such as the Muir of Ord gala which booked the Clan in 2014as a direct result of our event.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Cycling in Rural Scotland Conference In March 2014 we organised the Cycling in Rural Scotland Conference in Conon Bridge to promote better and safer rural cycling. We offered a range of practical sessions on topics such as cycling events, community links, mapping and developing trails. A wide range of national organisations and successful local groups contributed to the conference, including Sustrans, Cycling Scotland, Highland Council, HiTRANS, Paths for All, Highland Perthshire Cycling, Cycletherapy, New Start Bikes and Backbone. The event was unique in giving a rural focus to cycling issues and it attracted an audience from throughout rural Scotland. The feedback was incredibly positive with participants finding it both very useful and inspirational. Various documents are available to download from our website (www.transitionblackisle.org/cycling-in-rural-scotland-conference.asp), including a comprehensive report and workshop presentations. Cycle Friendly Communities In 2014 we were successful in applying to Cycling Scotland to be a pilot Cycle Friendly Community project. Working with schools and community groups in Avoch and Fortrose our project aims to focus on inclusion, participation and safety for local cyclists. To date we have trained eight bike mechanics who will be offering a monthly Dr Bike drop in session in Avoch to offer bike safety checks and basic repairs. We have trained local teachers, leisure centre staff and youth group leaders as Trail Cycle Leaders to allow them to offer cycle activities to local young people. We also delivered our Cycling Spring Fling event in Fortrose in March 2015 to promote road safety through cycle skills, safe routes, helmet and hi-vis promotion, bike checks and understanding other road users’ perspectives by trying out the view from the cab of a bus and lorry. We will run group cycles and electric bike demos over the summer to increase confidence and participation locally among a wide sector of the community and will also offer one to one sessions via the local GP surgery to offer cycling as a means of improving fitness and mental health. We are also planning a road safety campaign in the spring/summer months – promoting the national Give Me Cycle Space message and plan to promote Advanced Driver Training with local young people. Black Isle Bicycles With start-up funding from the Coastal Communities Fund, Transition Black Isle launched Black Isle Bicycles in 2014. Black Isle Bicycles is a social enterprise that aims to develop the Black Isle as a must-visit destination for cycling and a must-cycle destination when visiting. Black Isle Bicycles offer mobile bike hire, route advice and maintenance. They are working with local businesses and other organisations to get the best balance for the environment and economy of the Black Isle. More information is available at www.blackislebicycles.co.uk.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

One of the barriers to active travel is not knowing good routes to take. Active travel maps highlight the best paths in and around a community, helping local people see alternatives to driving. A key objective of the Million Miles project was to create an active travel map of the Black Isle. This ambition evolved into a suite of tools to help people find good routes for cycling, many of which utilised information added to the online map OpenStreetMap. The challenge of community mapping There are lots of potential data sources for an active travel map. Ordnance Survey maps are not always that helpful when planning an active travel journey and as the world moves online, more and more people are navigating using a variety of digital maps and applications that use the underlying data. Although digital maps are undoubtedly the way forward, they often lack sufficient detail to inform decisions about cycling and walking. Furthermore, we needed to factor in that active travel routes will vary over time (e.g. alteration of forestry tracks, new purpose-built paths), gathering information across a large rural peninsula would be time-consuming and the dispersed population makes it difficult to know what journeys people could realistically make on foot or by bike. OpenStreetMap was the solution for the Million Miles project Transition Black Isle decided to take an innovative approach to our active travel map by asking local people to contribute information to www.OpenStreetMap.org. OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project that aims to create a free editable map of the entire world. It was inspired by the success of Wikipedia and is by driven by data collection and editing by voluntary contributors (two million mark passed in March 2015). An extraordinary amount of information can be added; practically anything can be mapped, making OpenStreetMap ideal for gathering information about active travel routes. The underlying data is freely available under the Open Database License and so OpenStreetMap is used in novel and interesting applications across the world. More information is available on the online wiki: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org. The Million Miles team would be able to convert this crowd-sourced information into materials to promote active travel around the Black Isle. Encouraging contributions to OpenStreetMap We wanted as many people around the Black Isle as possible to contribute to OpenStreetMap. Editors can be self-taught through online instructions, but we decided to hold workshops to train local enthusiastic map-makers. It was hoped that this would eventually lead to mapping parties – a format replicated by OpenStreetMap contributors across the world. Following an initial gathering of Transition Black Isle members in June 2013 to explain the strategy, a public mapping meeting was held in September 2013. The training was held at Culbokie Primary School to provide internet and computer access. News of our project had spread amongst the OpenStreetMap community and so expert © Marion McDonald

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 mappers around the UK added buildings, forests and roads around the Black Isle in the week prior to our event. This valuable background detail made it easier to identify local amenities and plot routes for walking and cycling. We followed up the workshops with more informal mapping meetings in Munlochy in June and October 2014. Surveying routes between communities We recognised that the information collated about active travel routes might be inconsistent, in that mapping efforts would be concentrated in areas of the Black Isle where contributors lived. The Million Miles team identified the areas in which we needed to prioritise identifying routes. Although the principal cycling routes could be displayed on a small-scale active travel map, it would not be possible to include all of the detail that would help someone navigate along a route. Therefore, we agreed to create and publish route guides to provide more detailed information. Given the number of routes needed to cover the Black Isle and connections to neighbouring Inverness and , we decided to take on an intern to develop the guides as a standalone project. In August 2014, we recruited Lachlan McKeggie to identify quiet on-road connections and viable off-road routes between Black Isle communities. He then conducted surveys, added information to OpenStreetMap and produced route maps and step-by-step instructions. Lachlan is an archaeology graduate who grew up on the Black Isle. Years of cycling has given him an intimate knowledge of local cycling routes. The majority of Lachlan’s internship was funded through Adopt-an-Intern, with a short extension © Gerry McCann funded by the Climate Challenge Fund. Improvements to OpenStreetMap The end result from all of our mapping efforts was a vastly improved OpenStreetMap in less than two years. This can be seen in the rich detail added to villages, and the number of paths and tracks in woodland and farmland. The level of detail achieved can be seen in the live OpenStreetMap for the Black Isle. This was an excellent basis for our active travel materials and there is now a useful online map of the Black Isle. Online journey planner – cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org One of the well-known applications for OpenStreetMap data is the cycling journey planner www.CycleStreets.net. CycleStreets calculates realistic routes for cycling, scores all possible routes from A to B based on the information within OpenStreetMap. It then gives three route options: i) fastest - quickest route mostly along roads, ii) quietest - avoiding the busiest roads and iii) balanced - compromising by using a busier

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 road if the off-road route is a significant detour. Each route comes with a map and step-by-step instructions. In April 2013, we used CycleStreets to put together a cycling distance chart of the Black Isle (downloadable from the Transition Black Isle website: www.transitionblackisle.org/community-mapping.asp). We commissioned the team behind CycleStreets to create an embedded version on our website and in April 2014 http://cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org was launched. A map centred over the Black Isle and links to the main villages make it quicker to add the start and end points of a journey. Downloadable route cards - Community Cycle Links The excellent work completed by Lachlan in autumn 2014 was adapted into our Community Cycle Links: a series of 13 route cards between the main villages of the Black Isle and connections to Dingwall and Inverness. Together, they form a network of cycling routes around the Black Isle. With a few exceptions, each Community Cycle Link includes two options: i) a route entirely on tarred surfaces suitable for road bikes and ii) a route suitable for hybrid bikes that includes unsurfaced tracks and paths. The Community Cycle Links are designed to be printed on one double-sided A4. Each Community Cycle Link has a map based on OpenStreetMap data, written descriptions of the routes and key statistics. The reverse side includes information about the Million Miles project, an overview map of all the Community Cycle Links and a link to http://cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 A limited number of Community Cycle Links have been printed for distribution at local events. However, we anticipate that most people will access the guides via a dedicated page of the Transition Black Isle website: www.transitionblackisle.org/community-cycle-links.asp. Colour-coded routes are overlaid on an embedded OpenStreetMap, which allows users to zoom in to a high level of detail for unfamiliar sections. The Community Cycle Links can be toggled to show each route with waymarkers that correspond to a written description placed immediately below the map. A pdf version of each Community Cycle Link can be downloaded.

Travel map of the Black Isle The aim to produce a local active travel map developed into a more comprehensive Black Isle Travel Map to include public transport connections, places of interest, etc. Transition Black Isle selected local cartographer Helen Stirling to create the map (www.helenstirlingmaps.com) as she had experience in making active travel maps (e.g. Inverness). Helen began the process of building the map in early 2014, based on a combination of open access Ordnance Survey data, detail from OpenStreetMap and her own rendering styles. The map went through multiple drafts where information was added and corrected and the artwork was eventually finalised in February 2015. With a contribution from HiTRANS, approximately 11,000 maps were printed in March 2015 and 8,300 were delivered to almost all households on the Black Isle. The remaining copies will be distributed to project partners and retained by Transition Black Isle for dissemination at future events. The Black Isle Travel Map is a double- sided A2 folded to A5, featuring: • Suggested routes for cycling (including designated paths, off-road tracks, quiet roads and main roads) • Cycle parking and bike shops; • A summary table and highlighted routes for each of the thirteen Community Cycle Links; • Information about the outdoor access code; • Numbered bus routes, bus stops and train stations;

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

• Signposting to Traveline Scotland, highland.liftshare.com and relevant services connected to Transition Black Isle (e.g. Black Isle Bicycles and http://cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org); • Amenities (e.g. schools, cafés, shops) and places of interest (e.g. dolphin watching, viewpoints); • Nine detailed inset maps covering all of the major settlements on the Black Isle.

Fuel efficiency training has been a useful addition to the Million Miles project. Although driver instruction was not considered in the original application, Transition Black Isle wished to take advantage of the discounted training sessions offered by Home Energy Scotland (a programme known variously as DriveSense and FuelGood). The aim was to help drivers find ways to minimise their fuel consumption, recognising that many local residents in rural parts of the Black Isle are dependent on their cars. Fuel efficiency training would also be an excellent way to engage hard-to-reach households that may have little interest in other green travel options. In addition, increasing the number of careful drivers in a community contributed towards our aim of improving safety for road © Peter Elbourne cyclists. Training sessions – priced at £12 for the majority of the Million Miles project – were offered free to members of Transition Black Isle. Each 50 minute training session was on a one-to-one basis with a qualified instructor, usually Inverness-based Orlando Collesso. Drivers were led around a route in their community three times: the first lap was without any advice, the second included instruction on driving more efficiently and the final lap measured the improvement in fuel economy. The instructor was able to offer tailored advice to each participant, reflecting existing awareness of fuel efficiency techniques and highlighting the most important changes to implement. The majority of the training sessions were spent discussing and practising a smooth driving technique to minimise acceleration and harsh braking. In addition, time was taken to review other elements of fuel efficient driving (e.g. vehicle maintenance, reducing weight and drag, etc.). Eight fuel efficiency training days were held in six Black Isle communities between August 2012 and October 2014. Training sessions were often run alongside other Million Miles event, such as the Out and About days in Cromarty and Conon Bridge. In total, 54 drivers completed a training session, approximately half of which signed up as members of Transition Black Isle on the day. Encouraging liftsharing was an integral part of our Million Miles project, given dependence on cars and large journey distances. It was essential to promote a website

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 to facilitate journey matching on the Black Isle and work on this began soon after the project commenced. Developing a journey matching website The original intention was to use http://ifyoucareshare.com/: a car-sharing website launched in 2008 by HiTRANS available to Transition Black Isle at no cost. However, on investigation we concluded this site was poorly designed, and so we decided to find an alternative website, even though this would carry a capital cost and ongoing expense. As of March 2015, it appears that http://ifyoucareshare.com/ has 43 members, supporting our conclusion. Liftshare is a social enterprise that aims to help people share car journeys. They operate www.liftshare.com – an award-winning journey matching website regarded as the most functional system available. The national website has the largest network in the UK and Liftshare have created more than 1,200 tailored systems for businesses, local authorities and third sector organisations. We consulted Devon County Council on how their bespoke website – www.carsharedevon.com – was operating and decided that a Black Isle portal would be the best way to proceed. We considered promoting the open Liftshare website, but it would have had no local connection and there would have been no access to management and reporting data. The cost of developing the website was £1,000 + VAT, with the annual licence and support package costing £3,300 + VAT for three years up to December 2015. Full funding was obtained from the Highland Council Ward 10 Discretionary Budget in November 2012 and a meeting was held with Transition Black Isle members to discuss how to promote the website. Launching highland.liftshare.com We settled on https://highland.liftshare.com as the name for our website, including a local reference without implying that journeys would be restricted to the Black Isle. Following preliminary testing by Transition Black Isle members, highland.liftshare.com was launched in December 2012. The first major publicity campaign was organised in January 2013, ahead of the first works on the Kessock Bridge commencing in February. We were successful in involving the two local football clubs and attracting the attention of local and regional media. The first photo-op – with Ross County players and a car with highland.liftshare.com livery supplied by Arnold Clark – ended up as an article in the Ross-shire Journal, accompanied with quotes from manager Derek MacKay. The second © Ian Rhind © Ewen Wetherspoon event with Inverness Caledonian Thistle also included interviews with local media and was featured on the STV local news that evening. We also made contact with local community organisations, businesses and agencies and asked them to circulate details of our new website to employees and members.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Ongoing promotion We continued to promote the website following the launch to raise awareness and boost membership. The Million Miles team attended various public events (e.g. Belladrum Festival and the Black Isle Show), where liftsharing was one of the key messages to push. Promotion to workplaces enabled direct contact with staff. This included a presentation in May 2013 to 25 staff at SEPA in Dingwall, where a travel audit had highlighted potential for liftsharing to cut emissions, and attendance at an event in Inverness organised by Lifescan in June 2013. We also gave presentations at Million Miles events (e.g. a slideshow for around 100 people at the Black Isle Bike Fest in April 2013). Three newsletters were issued during 2013. The aim was to keep members engaged with highland.liftshare.com and also connect them with the wider Million Miles project. The limited responses to requests for feedback and offers of fuel efficiency training suggested that the newsletters had a limited readership. Therefore, no more were produced as they were an ineffective use of time. Liftshare Week (October 2013 and October 2014) Liftshare organise coordinated promotion for Liftshare Week every October to help boost membership of their schemes. Our messaging for Liftshare Week 2013 was in line with the national campaign, focusing on the financial benefits of sharing car journeys. We issued press releases, placed adverts in local newspapers and had an interview on local radio. Growth in membership From the launch of the website in November 2012 until March 2015, 430 people directly registered onto highland.liftshare.com. Liftshare periodically migrated over members of the national network who had journeys registered in the Highlands, most notably ahead of the promotional campaigns in January 2013 and January 2014. Overall, 296 members joined the group in this way, which significantly boosted the overall number of journeys available and helped make the site functional in the early stages. In total, 174 members were removed from the group, most probably due to Liftshare’s automated deletion process (removal if three consecutive emails are bounced back unread). Over half of the removed members were initially migrated from www.liftshare.com and so their details would be more likely to be out of date. The highest levels of new registrations were achieved soon after the launch of the website in January and February 2013. There was a significant boost to membership during Liftshare Week 2013. However, campaigns throughout 2014 had less impact (including ahead of the second phase of repairs on the Kessock Bridge and Liftshare Week). The average number of registrations per month in 2013 was 23; this rate dropped to 10 per month in 2014 and 11 per month in 2015. A total of 829 journeys were registered on highland.liftshare.com by March 2015. Most are regular journeys – 52% are described as daily and 16% as occasional – and 191 start on the Black Isle (23%).

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The runs through the southwest of the Black Isle, with stations in Muir of Ord and Conon Bridge offering rail connections to Inverness, Dingwall and beyond. The station at Conon Bridge re-opened during the course of our project which also provided considerable national publicity for the area. Rail travel is already highly subsidised as the Highland Railcard offers a 50% discount on tickets for local residents and the Million Miles project helped to promote its availability. As most of the Black Isle has bus service provision through Stagecoach Highland, the Million Miles project focused particularly on bus travel. We worked closely with Stagecoach Highland during the project to increase access to information about services, offer incentives through voucher schemes and promote innovative schemes like the bike rack on the Cromarty bus service. © Peter Elbourne Bus voucher promotions Over the course of the project we worked with Stagecoach Highland on a number of local bus promotion schemes. In 2012, we mailed timetables and a voucher for a week’s free bus travel to all homes in the villages of Muir of Ord (1,800 households). This was followed by a similar mailshot to Munlochy, Avoch and Fortrose in 2013 (1,750 households). These two mailshots covered almost half of the total of number of households on the Black Isle. The uptake of the postal voucher scheme in Muir of Ord was 3.8% or around 68 households, a good result in terms of the industry average redemption rate of 2%. In 2014, we took a different approach and made bus travel vouchers available at community events in Cromarty and Conon Bridge. People had to come to the © Marion McDonald event and complete one of our Travel Check surveys before being issued with a voucher. At our event in Cromarty, 40 of the 65 vouchers we distributed were redeemed – again considered an above-average success rate.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 According to Stagecoach Highland, uptake of bus travel overall has increased by 2% since the outset of our project – but there are other factors which will have had an impact (e.g. Kessock Bridge works). Out & About events We developed a format for local sustainable transport events which were initially intended to support the bus voucher scheme promotions, but also were opportunities to promote all the diverse elements of our project and to highlight other organisations and local issues. We held Out & About events in Muir of Ord, Cromarty, Fortrose and Conon Bridge and attracted in total around 320 attendees. The events were an opportunity to sign up members to Highland Liftshare, promote fuel efficient driver training, provide instruction on community mapping, offer bike repairs and demonstrate electric bikes and folding bikes. In addition, an Out & About event always included a range of activities for kids, including a smoothie bike, bike skills and indoor activities like giant board games with a transport theme. We always involved local groups in providing teas and coffees as a fundraiser and as a means of generating good local publicity. Though attendance at the events varied, we felt that in general they were a successful way of engaging with a wide range of the local population. Importantly, we were delighted to be able to offer an event with broad appeal covering many aspects of local transport. It is unlikely that individual events on liftsharing, public transport and cycling would have been as well © Marion McDonald attended. Bus bike rack scheme In 2013, we supported the Highland Council sustainability team and HITrans in persuading Stagecoach Highland to pilot a bus bike rack scheme. Our involvement meant that a Black Isle route was chosen for the trial. Stagecoach Highland was keen to take part and funded the installation of the racks themselves in the summer of 2013. Stagecoach developed a low cost system effectively mounting a typical wheel supporting bike rack as you would use on a normal car, which can carry up to three bikes. They put a booking system in place so that people had the option of booking the bike on in advance to ensure space was available. The © Gerry McCann racks are removed in the winter to extend their life. The scheme continued in summer 2014 and the bike racks are due to be reinstated in April 2015 for the next summer season.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Transition Black Isle’s role was to help promote the scheme through community events – bringing a bus along where possible! – as well as with schools. We also obtained good press coverage for the scheme and experimented with social media campaigns and offering incentives. Uptake in the first year was low but feedback from users was very positive. The scheme continues and Stagecoach Highland is considering trialling bike racks on other routes.

Generally speaking, the Million Miles project received very good coverage in the local media for a range of its project activities. Larger scale events and launches received national coverage and we also made good use of social media and more tailored publications. Our main media splashes were the launch of the project itself in August 2012 and also the launch of highland.liftshare.com in January 2013. These events were organised by our PR consultant and received coverage on TV and radio news programmes as well as in local newspapers (Inverness Courier, Ross-shire Journal and Press and Journal). During the Kessock Bridge closures we also had a number of TV, press and radio interviews to promote liftsharing and other alternatives to car travel to ease congestion at peak periods. We received national radio coverage on several occasions through Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme, focussing on cycle training, safety and cycle tourism. BBC Alba also covered a range of cycle activities including community mapping and the Slow Cycle Club in Cromarty. We successfully achieved press coverage for the full range of project activity, including fuel efficient driver training, bikes on buses, liftsharing, © Gerry McCann community mapping, local cycling activities and our larger scale cycling events such as the Bike Fest and the Rural Cycling Conference. We also made full use of more local and tailored publications with regular contributions to publications like the Chatterbox newsletter for the Black Isle, Transition Black Isle newsletter, Highland Cycle Campaign newsletter and Highland Environmental Network newsletter. We developed a social media presence over the course of the project using Facebook and Twitter and we worked hard to keep our information lively and up to date. By March 2015, we had reached 238 likes on Facebook and 309 followers on Twitter. Social media was particularly useful for communicating certain project elements (e.g. community mapping). We also had our own section of the Transition Black Isle website which contained more detailed information on project activity and useful background information. The website also included several tools that will remain in place after the project finishes, including a Traveline Scotland portal, our cycling journey planner and Community Cycle Link guides.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 In autumn 2014 we published our own project newspaper – the Million Miles Messenger. Copies were delivered to all 8,700 households in our project area. This was a great opportunity to raise awareness about all the various project strands to the widest possible audience and also to promote relevant project supporters in a positive way. The Messenger included listings of upcoming cycling, community mapping and fuel efficiency training events and competitions to encourage the completion of online Travel Checks and new registrations to highland.liftshare.com.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The Million Miles project required a monitoring system capable of measuring the number of car miles displaced, the balance of direct emissions saved from reduced car miles driven and increased indirect emissions from greater use of other modes of transport and our associated community outcomes (improved health, increased safety, reduced congestion). Initial approach to monitoring Options for monitoring outcomes were considered during the launch phase of the Million Miles campaign. An initial strategy was put together in October 2012 (the report is available to download from the Transition Black Isle website (www.transitionblackisle.org/travelchallenge.asp) that combined the following elements: • Travel Checks The baseline survey questionnaire used in spring 2012 was adapted into a Travel Check: a shorter form that focused on capturing information about travel behaviour that the project intended to influence. Respondents would be able to leave their contact details if they wished to opt in to our monitoring and/or receive information about the project. • Travel Diaries A detailed survey capturing all household travel over one week adapted from the National Travel Survey and Scottish Household Survey. This comprehensive information would help participants see where, how and when they travel, which may lead to potential savings being identified. The data collected would help establish a baseline for travel for our project. • Travel Challenges A pledge form where people engaged in project activity would make personal commitments to acting on changes to active travel, public transport and car use. • Follow-up forms A standardised list of straightforward questions to determine confirmed changes in behaviour since completing the original travel survey, for completion through interview or online. • Monitoring database An integrated catalogue of all monitoring information to allow automatic calculation of key project outcomes. This included reductions in car mileage and greenhouse gas emissions (based on the UK Government conversion factors for company reporting: www.ukconversionfactorscarbonsmart.co.uk, accessed December 2014). Improved monitoring process Over the next year of campaigning, we recognised that certain elements of the initial monitoring strategy were unlikely to be effective. Travel Challenges were more likely to be completed by people who have received detailed advice (e.g. cycle skills sessions, fuel efficiency training). However, most activity in the Million Miles project consisted of broader messages to the wider population. Periods of contact with the public are

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 typically short, meaning that time should be spent on promoting project activity rather than explaining the monitoring process. Therefore, a more straightforward monitoring system was agreed in October 2013 (report available to download from the Transition Black Isle website: www.transitionblackisle.org/travelchallenge.asp): • Travel Checks prioritised over Travel Diaries Efforts would be focused on getting as many Travel Checks completed as possible to establish a baseline for each household engaged during the project. This was effectively a rolling baseline for households engaged as the campaign progressed, rather than a static baseline at the outset. We intended to incorporate Travel Diaries into our monitoring later in the project. However, the increasing level of project activity combined with the extra resources required to execute a successful promotion amongst a comparatively small number of households meant that this monitoring element never got going. • Travel Challenges abandoned We stopped using our Travel Challenges as pledge forms and relied on our Follow-up Forms to track behaviour changes. Response rate for household travel surveys Over the duration of the Million Miles project, 240 households completed a Travel Check (93% by paper copy; 7% via an online version on SurveyMonkey). Two successful campaigns were organised with Fortrose Academy and Avoch Primary, where pupils were asked to complete bespoke Travel Checks. With the 147 households that completed a baseline travel questionnaire in spring 2012, we managed to survey a total of 387 unique households across the Black Isle. Approximately 50 Travel Checks were excluded from the analysis, usually because the household was not on the Black Isle or the majority of the questions had not been answered. Despite our best efforts, only a minority of the households we engaged with during the Million Miles campaign completed a survey on travel behaviour. The surveyed total of 387 households is a small proportion of people on the Black Isle that we have engaged over the course of the project. The occupants of the surveyed households total 1,111 people (28% children; 63% adults; 9% senior citizens). Our records show that approximately 7,750 people attended 550 workshops, training sessions, awareness- raising events and presentations. Although we recognise that this total does not represent unique participants, the Million Miles project has undoubtedly engaged with many thousands of local people over nearly three years. For example, practically every household on the Black Isle received our Million Miles Messenger newspaper and Black Isle Travel Map through the post. It is difficult to get an accurate estimate of the number of households on the Black Isle, as the peninsula covers two Highland Council ward areas – the part of 9: Dingwall & Seaforth that includes Conon Bridge and Muir of Ord and all of 10: Black Isle. The project team identified the postal areas comprising the Black Isle when coordinating the delivery of the Million Miles Messenger in September 2014. The total number of households in those postal areas and within the direct mail register was 8,330.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Assuming that around 5% of homes will have opted out of receiving direct mail, the total number of households on the Black Isle is approximately 8,770. As our 387 baseline surveys and Travel Checks is equivalent to only around 4.4% of all Black Isle households, we have decided to use an alternative measure as a proxy for the number of households Transition Black Isle contacted during the Million Miles campaign. Based on discussions with CCTs, project officers, volunteers and directors, we have conservatively assumed that we engaged 10% of all Black Isle households over the course of our project, which is equivalent to approximately 877 households. Follow-up interviews to determine behaviour changes Follow-up activity was conducted over two periods: November to December 2013 and March 2015. In total, follow-ups were completed for 109 households (81% through interviews; 19% via an online version through SurveyMonkey). This was equivalent to 28% of households that completed either a baseline survey or a Travel Check, exceeding our original target of following up 25% of surveyed households. We need to consider whether the information gathered for the cohort of households completing follow-ups was representative of all households surveyed. In general, occupants of follow-up households were older than the average across the 387 initial baseline surveys. This was seen in both the number of people per household by age category (average number of children: baselines = 0.8, follow-ups = 0.5; average number of senior citizens: baselines = 0.3, follow-ups = 0.4) and the proportion of households with occupants in different age categories (proportion with children: baselines = 43%; follow-ups = 31%; proportion with senior citizens: baselines = 18%; follow-ups = 28%). Even so, there are minimal differences in travel patterns between the two cohorts. For example, there is a small variance in the average annual car mileage per household (2.8% less for follow-up households), but the overall frequency distributions amongst survey households and follow-up households are practically identical. Therefore, we can be confident that the households completing a follow-up were representative of all the households surveyed. The findings of the follow-up process can be found in the following sections. Outcomes have been extrapolated to all Black Isle households engaged during the Million Miles campaign to reach a measure of overall project impact.

The majority of our community events were linked to cycling and we anticipated that the project would lead to greater bike use. The project team were delighted with the findings of the follow-up questionnaires and the highly positive feedback received.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Journeys made by bike or on foot are assumed to generate zero additional greenhouse gas emissions. Behaviour changes Across all households completing a baseline survey or Travel Check (hereafter referred to as ‘baseline households’), 44% had occupants who cycled in a typical week (average of 2.1 journeys per household) and the average total distance was 8.7 miles per week (equivalent to an average of 450 miles a year). Amongst households completing the follow-up process, 44% stated that their household was cycling more, increasing mileage by an average of 66%. This is equivalent to an extra 206 miles cycled a year by each follow-up household, which can be extrapolated to an extra 131,049 bike miles over all 877 households engaged. The majority of baseline households had occupants who made a journey by foot in a typical week (73%). On average, each surveyed household walked 7.0 journeys covering a total of 8.3 miles each week. This is equivalent to an average of 431 miles a year, although it should be noted that many households probably underestimated the number of short journeys they walked. Across our follow-up households, 43% said that their household was walking more with an average increase in mileage of 41%. This corresponds to an extra 95 miles by foot a year for each follow-up household and, therefore, an extra 74,196 miles walked over all 877 households engaged. The total distance walked across the Black Isle increased by 2.0%. Improved health The findings of our follow-up interviews suggest that Black Isle households are walking and cycling more. There is strong evidence to link physical activity with health, including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, lowering high blood pressure, controlling weight and improving mental health (summarised in a report by Cycling England in 2007). Whilst impractical to measure on any tangible level, we can be confident that the Million Miles project has helped to improve health on the Black Isle. Anecdotal evidence of increased cycling Our cycling events have been incredibly well received. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with 95% enjoying the events and 84% stating that they were inspired to cycle more as a result of the training.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Our Community Cycle Trainers have been at the forefront of changing behaviour across the Black Isle. We have had considerable anecdotal feedback from our Community Cycle Trainers of the changes people are making, both in terms of increased bike use and improved fitness.

We’ve also received many comments from local people during our follow-up surveys to indicate cycling is now more common on the Black Isle. Furthermore, we have managed to support leisure cyclists in their transition to using their bike to replace car journeys. The Million Miles project has also helped people suffering from arthritis and with limited mobility increase their physical activity through cycling.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The support we have been able to provide schools and various other community organisations has also been well received. The resources of the Million Miles project have helped deliver a wide range of benefits across the whole of the Black Isle.

The behaviour changes directly linked to our community mapping activity are difficult to quantify. However, we have had anecdotal evidence that people are using our range of online resources to help them plan active travel journeys. The impact of our Black Isle Travel Map cannot be measured as it was only recently published. However, we expect the routes highlighted will encourage more people to get out on their bikes as the cycle season starts. Improved safety One of the key motivations for community mapping was to highlight safer routes for cycling. We are confident that the Million Miles project has helped to show people the quieter roads and off-road tracks for cycling. Routes have been added to OpenStreetMap for public viewing and use by online applications, including our embedded journey planner cycleroutes.transitionblackisle.org that calculates the quietest route from A to B. Our Community Cycle Links combine into a network of quiet routes that a cyclist could use to tour across the Black Isle. Should the plans for new designated bike paths materialise, the Million Miles project will have helped deliver safer traffic-free routes for cyclists. Accident statistics are not a practical method for monitoring changes to cycle safety in a community. Cycling Scotland published their most recent Annual Cycling Monitoring Report in March 2015. The rate of pedal cycle casualties in Scotland has generally fallen over the last decade (2.68 casualties per million vehicle kilometres travelled in 2013; average of 2.75 over 2009-2013) and the rate of killed and serious injury incidents has also dropped (0.49 KSI per million vehicle kilometres travelled in 2013; average of 0.53 over 2009-2013). It is worth noting that the most recent statistics are from a period comparatively early in the project, but they still indicate a general trend of increased cycle safety.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Ultimately, increased levels of cycling may lead to more accidents due to the higher number of bikes on the road, although evidence suggests that as more drivers become cyclists the number of accidents relative to the distance cycled will fall. We have been conscious as a project to foster a culture of safe cycling. Our policy was that participants in cycle training must wear a helmet and we have distributed hundreds of branded high-vis vests over the course of the campaign. Encouraging fuel efficient driving has also helped improved driver behaviour on the Black Isle and involving older school pupils in cycle training encourage them to become safer road users when they start driving. Cyclists have also benefitted from permanent 20mph speed restrictions put in place on several village centres around the Black Isle.

Outcomes from fuel efficiency training The average final fuel economy achieved by the 54 drivers who took part in fuel efficiency training was 60 miles per gallon, which was an improvement of 16% over each session. Home Energy Scotland calculate savings based on the annual mileage and vehicle driven by each participant. With an average annual mileage of 11,117 per driver, the average estimated savings were £265 and 479kg CO2e per year. There was a wide range between participants. One driver’s final fuel economy of 81 MPG was a 29% improvement on the first lap and equivalent to annual savings of £1,010 and 1.9 tonnes

CO2e. The feedback from all participants was extremely positive. The majority found the sessions to be informative and felt that there were changes they could implement.

Behaviour changes Across all surveyed households, 94% stated that they employed basic fuel efficiency practices such as early gear changes, cutting top speed, removing heavy items and maintaining their vehicle (occasionally = 21%; regularly = 51%; constantly= 22%). In addition, Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 86% said they used more advanced driving techniques such as avoiding harsh braking and strong acceleration and anticipating road conditions (occasionally = 29%; regularly = 36%; constantly= 17%). Over the follow-up households, 53% said that they had tried to implement changes to their driving style to save fuel. Overall, 9% made changes on some trips, 26% on most trips and 14% on all trips; assuming that the frequency of these changes is equivalent to improved fuel economy of 5%, 10% and 15%, this can be extrapolated to an average fuel saving of 5.1% per household.

Liftsharing was an important component of the project and we expected it to deliver significant savings. Although highland.liftshare.com was central to promoting liftsharing, there were wider benefits and we were not able to draw many conclusions from the membership of our website. Outcomes from highland.liftshare.com There are limitations to the outcomes that we can extrapolate from the data available for highland.liftshare.com. This is principally because information in the monitoring pages relies on members keeping their details up to date: only nine members have confirmed their status as sharing a regular journey, which is likely to be underestimating the actual number of people liftsharing. ‘BUDi teams’ are formed by active members who are looking to increase the number of people they share with. Although just five BUDi teams have been created, the accumulated savings forecast for the next year are 1,438 passenger trips, £9,527 in fuel costs and 38,932 car miles. This demonstrates that changes arising from liftsharing can be significant. In addition, the growth of highland.liftshare.com to Inverness, Nairn, Dingwall, Tain and further afield means that many journeys registered do not take place on the Black Isle. Journey start locations can be estimated from maps and many Black Isle communities have significant numbers of journeys originating from them (e.g. 35 from Rosemarkie and Fortrose, 27 from North Kessock, 26 from Cromarty). Overall, there are approximately 191 journeys registered starting on the Black Isle (daily = 99, occasional = 31, one-off = 61). Behaviour changes Over all surveyed households, 73% stated that they shared car journeys with friends and relatives (occasionally = 39%; regularly = 22%; constantly= 11%). Across the follow-up households, 23% said that they were liftsharing more than at the time they completed the original baseline survey or Travel Check. It is not practical to estimate the extra number of car miles being shared. Very few interviewees gave quantitative responses during follow-up surveys and there is limited information on actual changes implemented by members of highland.liftshare.com. In any case, households participating in the follow-up process were asked about overall changes to car mileage and so incorporating savings from liftsharing would be double counting.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Anecdotal evidence of increased liftsharing We received several comments that suggest liftsharing is becoming more commonplace. Heavy promotion of highland.liftshare.com may have encouraged more people to considering liftsharing without actually registering with the site. It appears that the roadside banners were particularly effective at targeting car drivers. We have also heard how people are fitting liftsharing into their day-to-day travel arrangements.

It was essential to estimate changes in travel by bus and train as the associated indirect greenhouse gas emissions would be important when calculating the environmental impact of the Million Miles campaign. Behaviour changes Across all baseline households, 50% had occupants who travelled by bus during a typical week (average of 3.1 journeys per household) and the average total distance was 61 miles per week (equivalent to an average of 3,151 miles a year). Average annual emissions from bus travel per surveyed household was 0.4t CO2e. Amongst households completing the follow-up process, 28% said that their household was using buses more, increasing mileage by an average of 41%. This is equivalent to an extra 181 miles travelled by bus per year by each follow-up household, which can be extrapolated to an extra 196,077 miles across all 877 households engaged and additional indirect greenhouse gas emissions of 26.1t

CO2e. Across all surveyed households, 16% stated that they travelled by train in a

typical week (average of 0.5 journeys per household), with an average distance of 38 miles per week (equivalent to 1,966 miles a year). Average emissions from train travel per year for each surveyed household was 0.1t CO2e. Over the follow-up households,

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 25% said that they were using the train more. Based on estimates from interviewees, distance travelled by train substantially increased by 105%. This reflects modal shifts made by households for longer journeys and the opening of the new rail station in Conon Bridge. This extra mileage is equivalent to 741 train miles a year for each follow- up household, which can be extrapolated across all households engaged to an additional 404,718 miles and 22.7t CO2e.

All project activity was designed with the ultimate aim of reducing car travel. Therefore, it was crucial to determine what changes local households made to personal car use. Reductions in car mileage Over all of the households completing a baseline survey or a Travel Check, the average annual mileage driven per year was 14,643 miles. The average number of car trips per week was 12.0 journeys per household. The average number of cars per household was 1.4. Approximately 8% of surveyed households did not own a car, but 3% drove more than 35,000 miles a year. Over the follow-up households, 43% said that car use had dropped since completing their original survey. Based on estimates from interviewees, the average decrease amongst the households cutting car miles was 29% – significant reductions in private vehicle use. This reduction equates to 1,499 miles a year for each follow-up household, which can be extrapolated across all 877 households engaged to a reduction of 1,352,277 car miles. This decrease is equivalent to reducing all car miles on the Black Isle by 1.1%. Therefore, the campaign exceeded its two principal targets of cutting car travel by 1% or 1,000,000 miles. Reduced congestion One of the community outcomes for the Million Miles project was to alleviate congestion. Traffic is not a significant problem locally, as the Black Isle is a rural area with a dispersed population. However, the largest bottleneck is the Kessock Bridge used by thousands of commuters to reach Inverness. The queues that form near North Kessock during the morning rush hour were going to be exacerbated by the roadworks running over several months in early 2013 and 2014. The Million Miles team were advised by Transport Scotland that the average occupancy of vehicles crossing the bridge had to increase from 1.2 to around 1.5 people per vehicle to keep traffic flowing at peak hours. Congestion problems were not as significant as feared and we think it likely that the efforts of the Million Miles campaign to cut car miles and raise awareness of alternative means of travel helped to relieve congestion. Savings in greenhouse gas emissions The official reporting figures include carbon factors for average cars, but the information regarding household car mileage could be used to calculate a more accurate estimate of environmental impact of the project. Respondents of the Travel Check were used to supply either the engine size or Vehicle Excise Duty band of each Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 car in the household. The most common band for vehicles was C (22%), equivalent to

111-120g CO2 per km. However, bands were only given for 11% of vehicles. Therefore, a combination of fuel type (supplied for 59% of vehicles) and engine size (supplied for 60% of vehicles) was used to extrapolate emissions. Of all the vehicles, diesel engines accounted for 62% and 47% of vehicles were classified as medium (1.4-2.0 litre engine size). The average annual distance travelled by car of 14,643 miles across all surveyed households was equivalent to 5.4t CO2e. Over the follow-up households, 24% stated that the vehicles in their household had changed since completing the original survey. Based on the responses given in the follow-up survey, the average improvement in fuel economy from the upgrades was 8.0%. If a household had changed vehicles, this reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was applied to the revised environmental impact for car use following any changes to car mileage. In addition, the increased fuel economy from more fuel efficient driving practices was also applied (average 5.1% per household). The average greenhouse gas emissions from car travel across the households completing the follow-up process was 4.4t CO2e a year, a saving of -0.8t CO2e or -16% per household. This saving equates to -91.3t CO2e a year for all the follow-up households and -766.6t CO2e across all 877 households engaged during the Million Miles campaign Overall savings in greenhouse gas emissions from travel changes To determine the overall environmental impact of the Million Miles campaign, the direct greenhouse gas emissions saved from cuts to personal car use must be offset by the indirect emissions arising from increased use of buses and trains (assuming zero emissions arise from walking and cycling).

Offsetting 48.8t CO2e for increased use of public transport against -766.6t CO e saved from car 2 usage, the net carbon balance of Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project is -717.8t CO2e. This exceeds the target greenhouse gas savings for the project: 374.2t CO2e. Lifetime emissions can be estimated according to how long changes are expected to last. Travel behaviour is especially difficult to embed in the long term and first year savings can be assumed to continue for three years. Therefore, a simplified estimate of lifetime emissions savings from the Million Miles project is

2,153.5t CO2e (against target of 789.9t CO2e)

Many of the activities carried out during the Million Miles project were not anticipated; it was vital that we remained open to new ideas during a diverse and long-running campaign.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

• Fuel efficiency training Fuel efficient driver training was not considered in the original proposal. The majority of the 54 participants were engaged in the monitoring process and the positive feedback we received suggests that these sessions were a useful way to increase project participation. • Wider range of active travel tools The original concept of an active travel map blossomed into a variety of resources that were not originally intended. The improvements to OpenStreetMap validate embedding our cycle journey planner onto the Transition Black Isle website and developing our Community Cycle Links. Indeed, the excellent survey and mapping work delivered by our intern Lachlan was a valuable part of the project. • Launch of Black Isle Bicycles The enthusiasm for cycling amongst the Transition Black Isle community led to the launch of Black Isle Bicycles, providing our area with mobile bike hire. • Rural Cycling Conference We were keen to collaborate with other rural communities working to boost bike use, given that many cycling initiatives are urban focused. Our Rural Cycling Conference enabled us to share our experiences and gain knowledge from others. • Cycle Friendly Communities One of the outcomes from the Rural Cycling Conference was that the Black Isle became one of the pilot communities for Cycling Scotland’s Cycle Friendly Communities scheme. • Membership of highland.liftshare.com over a wider area The inevitable outcome of naming our journey-matching website highland.liftshare.com was that membership would cover a wide geographic area. Perhaps surprisingly, the majority of members and journeys are not based on the Black Isle: 77% of the journeys registered on highland.liftshare.com do not originate on the Black Isle and, based on estimated locations, approximately 559 members do not live on the Black Isle. Therefore, the Million Miles project has had an impact on liftsharing beyond our community that is likely to save hundreds of thousands of car miles and hundreds of tonnes of emissions. One example is the savings achieved by Heather and Rory (case study available at www.transitionblackisle.org/liftshare.asp) when they liftshare on their commute to Inverness from Ardesier, a village on the south side of the that overlooks the Black Isle. There will be dozens of other such arrangements making reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that are directly derived from the Million Miles project but not included in the reported savings.

Our Million Miles campaign has been well received. Local communities have appreciated the range of activities on offer and now recognise the benefits of greener travel.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

Continued project activity will be a direct legacy of Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles campaign: • Online tools for active travel Due to Million Miles promotion and training, OpenStreetMap will continue to be improved and updated by volunteer contributors. OpenStreetMap will remain a useful tool for local route information and, indeed, be a valuable resource for applications unrelated to travel. Our A-to-B journey planner will remain on the Transition Black Isle website and improvements to OpenStreetMap will be reflected in better route planning. Our Community Cycle Link route guides will continue to be available for download on the Transition Black Isle website. Should any routes change in the future, additions can be made to OpenStreetMap and adjustments can be rendered in GIS software. • Printed materials for active travel Distributing our Black Isle Travel Maps to all households in the project area increases the likelihood that they will be used through 2015 and beyond. Additional copies will also be available via tourist outlets and community markets. The map itself is likely to be used by a newly formed tourism group on the Black Isle and will appear on signs and other printed materials. Community Cycle Link route guides have also been printed and will be available at relevant local community markets. • Bike racks Bike racks have been installed permanently in most of the main Black Isle villages. They provide infrastructure at key points and will remain in place for many years. • Racks to carry bikes on buses The bike rack on the Cromarty bus route will continue this summer and will hopefully remain a fixture in future years. Bus routes in other communities are being considered for similar trials. • Local cycle trainers The project delivered several Cycle Training Assistant courses to train local parents and school staff. Those trained will be able to deliver Bikeability in the future.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

• Continuing highland.liftshare.com Our highland.liftshare.com site is funded until the end of 2015 and Transition Black Isle is now seeking funds to extend the licence long term. Promotional materials such as banners and signs will remain available to volunteers for future promotion work. The website was upgraded to a device-responsive version in March 2015. This fresher look will ensure that highland.liftshare.com will remain in use for years to come. • Cromarty Doctor Bike Scheme Our cycle trainer in Cromarty will continue to repair and refurbish bikes locally, based at the community market and the donated storage space. • Cycling at Fortrose Academy Staff at Fortrose Academy – the only secondary school on the Black Isle – have qualified as Trail Cycle Leaders through our project. We also helped raise funds for a fleet of road bikes which pupils can borrow. The benefits of these initiatives will continue to be felt in the long term. In addition, various initiatives will continue and provide an indirect legacy for our project: • Black Isle Bicycles Black Isle Bicycles developed as a result of experience gained during the Million Miles campaign. It will continue in its current funded role for another year, promoting the Black Isle as a destination for cycle tourism. Transition Black Isle is considering the potential for bike hires to continue long term. • Cycle Friendly Community Pilot The Cycle Friendly Community Pilot runs until September 2015 and will have considerable continued impacts. School staff, leisure centre employees and local youth group leaders have been trained as bike mechanics and trail cycle leaders so these skills will remain in the community to the benefit of local young people. Skills equipment has been purchased which will also have long term use and benefits. • Potential infrastructure improvements Though not realised during the Million Miles project, there is potential for new designated cycle paths to be created on the Black Isle due to our efforts in lobbying and fundraising for feasibility studies and construction costs. Improvements may also be made in the communities of Avoch, Cromarty and Culbokie as a result of actions identified in the School Travel Plans we helped to develop – traffic calming and footpath improvements will hopefully be put in place in the near future to provide safer routes to school.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

The Million Miles project aimed to tackle one of the most challenging areas of behaviour change – travel – in a large rural area with limited access to public transport. The target of saving one million car miles was also ambitious. Offering a range of alternatives to car travel was both a strength and a weakness of the project. On the one hand, there was certainly something for everyone, including cycling, liftsharing for non-car owners and improving driving techniques to cut down on fuel consumption. This increased opportunities for engagement with the whole population of the Black Isle. However, it also made the project a complex campaign to deliver and, to a certain extent, stretched the small number of staff and the pool of volunteers. Additional initiatives were also delivered over the length of the project where opportunities arose, which added to the overall impact of the project but arguably meant that core activity may have suffered.

Promoting cycling was a high profile aspect of the Million Miles project, with local Community Cycle Trainers active in nearly every Black Isle village. There were a great number of small scale activities as well as a few high profile events that generated significant publicity and engaged with a wide sector of the community. Potential for cycle commuting and many practical journeys to be made by bike was always going to be restricted by the distances between villages and the bigger towns where people head for work and shopping. This was why we were keen to develop our network of Community Cycle Links to highlight safer and quieter routes for bike journeys. However, we are confident that the Million Miles project has had an impact on helping to increase leisure cycling on the Black Isle, which can itself reduce the need to travel by car to leisure activities. Community Cycle Trainers The project employed 15 very part time Community Cycle Trainers (based on an average of 80 hours per year). At its best this approach allowed us to meet local demands and provide a good level of support and activity in local communities. It gave us a large pool of trained staff and flexibility to deliver large scale events and more regular activities. It means there will be a project legacy of many trained individuals throughout the area. The main downside was that project elements such as event planning could be very time consuming as each Community Cycle Trainer delivered events for the first time and had less opportunity to build up their own experience. This was mitigated by encouraging the Community Cycle Trainers to share experience and resources and to work together where appropriate. Supporting and co-ordinating the Community Cycle Trainers was also complex and time consuming but was a very rewarding aspect of the Project Officer’s job.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Community Cycle Trainers were initially trained as Cycle Trainers through the Cycling Scotland system which allowed them to train others up to Level 3 Bikeability and also to train volunteers to deliver up to Level 2. We raised additional funds to also train some Community Cycle Trainers as Velotech Bike Mechanics and Trail Cycle Leaders which was very useful in increasing the sorts of support and activities we could offer. Cycling events We offered a wide range of cycle activities to a range of ages and groups over the course of the project. Feedback from those who attended was always overwhelmingly positive, but we had persistent issues with promoting events and ensuring reasonable turnout and participation. Generally events which were meeting a specific local demand, with some attendees already identified, worked best. For example, the Cromarty Slow Cycle Club was instigated by a local volunteer and proved popular over a sustained period, but an attempt to establish a similar group in North Kessock never got off the ground. However, family sessions in Munlochy, based on an idea from another village, proved consistently popular having been simply advertised through the local school. This was also true in terms of workplace sessions, where an identified contact who helped to promote events internally, generally made a big difference to numbers attending. However there was no particular rule or pattern to what might work well where, with some events succeeding in some villages and not faring well in others. We generally encouraged Community Cycle Trainers to offer some sessions to existing groups, such as scouts, as well as setting up their own activities. This meant that they had some guaranteed turnout, which was important in keeping up morale. Although counterintuitive, it is possible that an inability to charge for events due to CCF funding rules sometimes had a negative impact on uptake. Working with schools Linking in with School Travel Groups was a useful inroad to local communities where input could result in wider improvements to local infrastructure as well as to more promotion of cycling. We also found that encouraging parents to foster new behaviours made by school children helped to reinforce changes across the family.

This element of the project was always going to prove challenging given the large geographical area covered by the project and the distances between the centres of population. The combination of producing the Black Isle Travel Map and the accompanying Community Cycle Links proved to be much more labour-intensive than envisaged: a few small changes to format had to be repeated across all thirteen of our route guides. However, we are very pleased with the final result as both the Black Isle Travel Map and Community Cycle Links look professional. We have produced something of a very high standard and of lasting benefit to our area. OpenStreetMap has been a valuable, unexpected tool and we would recommend other communities consider using it to map their local area. It was difficult to encourage people to contribute to OpenStreetMap, but a small number of people regularly added considerable detail. Indeed, many contributors did not live on the Black Isle but wanted to help when they heard about what we were trying to achieve Overall, our community mapping activity could be a model for similar rural areas to follow. Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

Surprisingly, it was usually difficult to fill all eight available sessions on our fuel efficiency training days. This suggests that people perceive themselves as being efficient drivers already and so have no need for one-to-one training. It was important to remain flexible. On almost every training day, several slots were moved about to accommodate people who had to change plans or decided to take advantage of a free session at short notice (e.g. at an Out and About event). In general terms, promoting and offering driver training was a useful addition to the range of services and initiatives we were offering. It helped us engage with car drivers and provided participants with relevant and useful information. As noted in our Outcomes section (p31), we received lots of positive feedback from the fuel efficiency training. Furthermore, participants have been able to relate to the changes they made to driving style and resulting increases in fuel economy, in contrast to other elements of the project where tangible changes are harder to determine.

It could be argued that promoting highland.liftshare.com merited a full-time employee on its own. Experience from other long running liftsharing campaigns suggests that promotion has to be ongoing and constant. The initial impact of our large scale media launch and business promotion was very effective, but subsequent promotions on a smaller scale had less impact. We feel that these promotions probably had insufficient staff time devoted to them. We intended to make direct contact with members for whom we could see there was a match on highland.liftshare.com. Once again, there was insufficient time to do this. More ongoing management was required to maximise the impact of highland.liftshare.com. For example, messages needed to be regularly sent to non- activated members to remind them to finish the registration process. It was often difficult to engage members, as few responded to emails and newsletters that were issued. This meant that it took a long time to obtain enough information for a useful case study. When we did gather some good anecdotal feedback and case studies of the success of the scheme, these were mostly off the Black Isle. We anticipated getting more information from the monitoring system, but the data is dependent on people actively keeping information up to date and using more advanced functions (e.g. setting up BUDi teams). More direct targeting of local employers might have had good results, but there was not enough time to carry this out systematically and effectively. There was also a setback when we learned that road side banners and signs – which had proved effective – were prohibited. As the project evolved, we made better use of social media campaigning, which proved to be low cost and effective. If the project was carrying on in the longer term this approach could have

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 a lot more potential relying as it does on networks of friends which helps overcome the barrier of connecting with strangers. We were delighted to complete the project with 726 members registered on highland.liftshare.com. Direct registrations from March 2013 onwards was around 12 per month, with the average in the last few months of the Million Miles project dropping to approximately 10 per month. We are seeking longer term funding to keep the site live but it will also require promotion if it is to continue to grow and develop.

Train travel was not given a high priority as it is only a realistic option for residents of Muir of Ord and Conon Bridge and does not affect the majority of our target population on the Black Isle. The Highland Railcard is a well-known and popular discount scheme already in operation and with the opening of a new station in Conon Bridge during the project there was also a lot of wider awareness about train services. Infrequency of services and lack of provision for cyclists were really the only general criticisms; these issues were flagged up with the rail provider but there was also a change in franchise holder underway during the project which made it difficult to influence any change. Even so, some people interviewed for follow-up surveys made significant changes to their travel beyond the Black Isle by taking the train for longer journeys. The majority of work on public transport focused on promoting bus travel, with Stagecoach Highland being the sole operator of bus services in the area. We forged positive working relations with Stagecoach Highland and organised a number of successful joint marketing schemes where timetable information and discount vouchers were made available to target communities. In hindsight it would have been useful to agree a strategy for bus promotion with Stagecoach Highland for the entire duration of the project rather than the piecemeal approach that was taken, which meant that the voucher offer varied from campaign to campaign. Also the voucher offer from Stagecoach Highland tailed off during the course of the project – from mailing all households in an area with a voucher for a week’s free bus travel, to our suggestion of people attending an event to claim a voucher (to allow for greater feedback and accountability) and finally to issues of single journey tickets. The marketing officer at Stagecoach Highland changed twice over the course of the project and for long spells there was no specific contact. However, Managing Director Steve Walker was extremely helpful and provided us with considerable support. We could also have devoted more time to promoting the availability of the bike racks on local buses.

Although we generally did achieve good media coverage for our wide range of project activity, promoting specific local events was always a challenge. In addition, it was difficult to convey our diverse and quite complex project activity concisely. Including support for PR as a key member of the Million Miles team was an excellent idea for a project which was fundamentally concerned with raising awareness and effecting behaviour change. Due to health reasons, we unfortunately lost our original PR Consultant who did an excellent job at the outset with our project launch, the unveiling of highland.liftshare.com and the early development of our social media and web presence. After some delay, we recruited another PR Consultant for a six month period towards the end of the project. This resulted in some innovative approaches, including Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 our project newspaper – the Million Miles Messenger – and the production of promotional videos. However, there was a key section of project delivery where we effectively had no professional PR support. This put more strain on other staff and volunteers and undoubtedly meant less effective campaigning at key stages. The Million Miles Messenger certainly helped raise awareness of our campaign during the second half of 2014. It was a great opportunity to convey the whole of our project story and the range of activity and services we could provide and anecdotal feedback was very positive. We feel that the Messenger may have helped normalise certain travel behaviours over the Black Isle (e.g. cycling, liftsharing), but there was practically no additional uptake in project services and events (e.g. attendance at mapping and cycling events, membership of highland.liftshare.com, submissions of online Travel Checks). Ultimately we felt that a lot of work had gone in to producing something whose impact we would not be able to quantify. Overall, it has been a challenge to promote a diverse range of events covering all aspects of sustainable transport. Certain methods have been more successful; we have received many comments from people who felt the roadside banners used to promote liftsharing were highly effective (but their continued use was restricted by advertising regulations). Social media has been an important tool to promote our activities. However, we were aware of competing for everyone’s attention with the mass of information that is out there and available and perhaps we were too reliant on posting notices on Facebook.

Monitoring outcomes for a transport related project was always going to be a challenge – household travel patterns are complex and are affected by a wide range of external factors. Travel behaviour is dependent on circumstances (e.g. family situation, changes to job, retirement), wholly outwith the influence of a community organisation. Furthermore, transport is part of so many aspects of daily life that it is difficult to have an impact and monitor the change. It took some time, and a few earlier versions, to develop our Travel Check. We tried to keep the questions as simple as possible but inevitably some respondents did find it difficult to complete the survey accurately over all the travel options. For example, respondents tended not to have accurate figures for every journey made, there was confusion between single trip and return journeys, walked journeys were probably underestimated and it could be particularly difficult to account for other family members. As stated in the Outcomes section (p31), our monitoring process evolved during the course of the project as we found ways to improve our methods. For example, we abandoned the use of Travel Challenge pledge forms to track behaviour change. However, the changes we made meant that we ended up with fewer surveys returned. We aimed to complete 500 Travel Checks by the project end, but we only managed 222 paper copies and 18 filled in online. We had hoped to get over 100 extra online surveys completed following promotion in the Million Miles Messenger, but the

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 response rate was less than 1%. Ultimately the method used was the best balance of effort and return that we could come up with and we managed to survey 4.4% of the households on the Black Isle. Perhaps CCF could be more proactive in helping projects devise their monitoring systems – experience and good practice from the range of projects funded across the country over several years could be passed on to new projects to help them at the outset. Non-carbon outcomes such as improving health, road safety and easing congestion were particularly difficult to measure in any meaningful way. We know that more people cycling is better for health, but did not have the means of measuring this outcome. Although we have an overall figure for event attendees it would be interesting to know how many unique individuals attended our training sessions, workshops and social rides over the course of the project. However, it may be difficult to establish a viable method to track this.

The Transition Black Isle directors who oversaw the Million Miles campaign – Martin Sherring, Richard Robinson and Wendy Price – have provided their own reflections on the project they devised and brought to fruition! • Correct project length We were 100% right to propose a three year project, in fact there’s an argument it would have benefited from being longer. We were aiming to embed a change in behaviour, and that takes lots of effort over a long period. • Wider engagement in our community The project developed contacts with people Transition Black Isle hadn’t been involved with before, and thus widened knowledge of our climate change related activities. In particular, we had never talked to

Community Councils before and the mailshots of the © Peter Elbourne newspaper and travel map reached every household. In the time available we weren’t able to do more than kick off that kind of contact. Users of public transport remain under-represented by the existing political and social mechanisms, and the private sector only act when pressure is applied. We weren’t able to redress that problem significantly. • A challenge to find volunteers to lead project activity We had hoped to find volunteers in all the main centres of population who would help promote the project. We massively under-estimated the difficulty of doing this – we thought there would be people out there just waiting for the invitation – which may have been the case, but the difficulty is finding them. To some extent we ended up doing things the wrong way round – rather than finding volunteers with views on the best activities to run, we set up the activities we thought best, to see who turned up. Having done that for three years, it feels as if we now, finally, know the people who could act as activists to take the project forward. • Monitoring a wide ranging project is problematic Monitoring is incredibly difficult for this sort of project. The idea was that the project would spread virally – so, for instance, as people see more folk in their

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 village cycling, it becomes the new norm. That must have happened to some extent, but it’s far beyond our capacity to measure and report on these indirect outcomes. Also, some of the secondary outcomes such as improved health and reduced congestion are so indirect and long-term that even if they were measurable it would be impossible to attribute changes to Million Miles. But sometimes it’s better to do a big project with outcomes which are likely to be © Peter Elbourne significant – even if they can’t be measured. • A challenge to promote events It seems to be getting more and more difficult to publicise events. People now get their news through lots of different channels, and there’s intense competition for their attention – so most folk are overwhelmed with information and just switch off. • Engagement with schools is effective Engaging with schools is much easier than with adults, and changing their behaviour is also much easier. It may not have such an immediate impact in terms

of CO2, but it’s a great opportunity to engage with the adults of the future before they are too busy to change their ways. • Messages linked to money may be counterproductive The best way to get people to think about liftsharing seems to be through their wallets. It’s a dangerous approach because then if the price of petrol falls, the message gets weaker – and also the focus on money can be used against other aspects of the drive to more sustainable lifestyles. But trying to change values is an even

longer-term project than trying to change behaviour! © Gerry McCann • Our flexible approach was rewarded Going with the flow isn’t such a bad idea: cycling has been going through an explosion of interest and we were able to build on that to get people involved. Once we were talking to them they also became aware of less easy aspects of Million Miles. In contrast, cajoling people to do something they’re not really enjoying or benefiting from is a losing game.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

A steering group was formed which involved the Project Officers and three TBI Directors who had a particular interest in the project: Martin Sherring who developed the initial project proposal, Richard Robinson who chaired the group and line managed the Project Officers, and Wendy Price who was particularly involved in promoting liftshare and developing the active travel map. This group met monthly, usually in person and occasionally using Skype, and was a very useful forum for project planning and general discussion. The Project Officers benefitted greatly from the experience, input and support of this group. The directors then reported back to the Transition Black Isle Admin group on a regular basis. A formal volunteering structure was envisaged for the project (‘Green Wheel Heroes’), but it was not established. Perhaps this was due to the range of topics and communities involved, however a considerable amount of volunteer input contributed to overall project activity.

The Climate Challenge Fund is an excellent initiative and Transition Black Isle is fortunate to have received funding for projects over five years. There were several changes of staff within CCF over the course of the project and maybe because of this there was little direct contact between the project and CCF beyond the presentation of monthly reports. Our Project Officers attended one very useful networking meeting on cycling, but we felt that perhaps more networking with other similar projects, facilitated by CCF would have been very helpful and allowed for more sharing of ideas and experience on issues such as monitoring for example. Recently area networks have been set up by CCF and, while useful, topic themed networks might actually be more productive.

The total budget for the Million Miles project between 2012 and 2015 was £194,741 (£53,182 in 2012/2013; £64,576 in 2013/2014; £76,984 in 2014/2015). Total expenditure over the campaign was £194,035. Table 1 summarises budget and expenditure for each heading.

Between 2012 and 2015 a range of additional project activity was delivered and funds raised which enhanced the impact of the project overall and contributed to many of the wider project aims. These funds are listed in Tables 2 and 3. An overview of in-kind contributions is provided in Table 4.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Table 1: Total budget and expenditure for Million Miles project (2012 to 2015).

Actual Heading Budget Variance expenditure

Project officer salary (incl NI) £82,446 £80,641 -£1,804

Community Cycle Trainers £26,526 £27,145 +£619

JCCF Community Cycle Trainers £1,596 £1,596 -

PR consultant £13,532 £13,532 -

Bookkeeper £12,547 £12,547 -

Recruitment costs £602 £602 -

JCCF recruitment costs - - -

Staff and volunteer training £7,691 £7,980 +£289

Staff travel costs £7,130 £7,380 +£251

Other staff and volunteer costs £3,292 £2,987 -£306

Event costs £6,893 £6,230 -£664

Promotional expenses £16,357 £15,404 -£953

Publications £3,500 £4,040 +£539

Survey costs £466 £466 -

Website £2,855 £4,345 +£1,490

Insurance £716 £715 -£1

Marketing equipment £2,301 £2,484 +£183

Other equipment £6,292 £5,941 -£351

Total £194,741 £194,035 -£706

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015 Table 2: Additional funds which led to specific additional project activity.

Source Amount Project/Outcome

Highland Council £4,300 Development of tailored liftshare site

Awards for All/Co-op £6,000 Delivery of Black Isle Bike Fest Members

Investing in Ideas £10,000 Feasibility study for Avoch-Munlochy cycle route

Cycling Scotland £6,000 Mechanic and Trail Cycle Leader training

Adopt an Intern £1,800 Staff time to develop community cycle link guides

Cycling Scotland £14,800 Cycle Friendly Community pilot project

Highland Council £1,000 Bike rack installation

HITrans £700 Contribution to active travel map costs

Total £44,600

Table 3: Additional funds raised for other organisations.

Sustrans Community Links £150,000 Towards construction of Avoch-Munlochy link

Awards for All £10,000 Road bike fleet for Fortrose Academy

Total £160,000

Table 4: Estimated value of additional in-kind contributions to the project.

Cycling Scotland £500 Commonwealth Games Legacy Bike Rack

TBI Volunteer Time £9,000 Project management and support

Townlands Barn £1,000 Cromarty Borrow a Bike storage space

Total £10,500

During the course of the project TBI was also successful in raising an additional £120,000 from the Coastal Communities Fund to deliver the Black Isle Bicycles project – which was very much a result of the cycle promotion work carried out by Million Miles and an attempt to secure some longer term financial sustainability. In total £335,100 was raised in direct, indirect and in-kind additional project contributions.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

Key outputs to report to the Climate Challenge Fund are recorded in Table 5. Note that outputs irrelevant to the Million Miles project are removed from the Table 5 (e.g. number of households installing energy efficiency measures, amount of new growing space, tonnes of waste diverted from landfill). Table 5: Summary of key reporting outputs from the Million Miles project.

How many advice/information centres – regular drop-in centre, advice surgery 273 a etc. - is your project running?

How many training sessions where skills and/or information were passed on 244 b – e.g. composting training, cooking workshops, etc. – has your project has held.

How many events did your project hold, e.g. information fairs, open days, etc.? 517 c Do not include events held by other organisations which you have attended.

How many staff, volunteers or community members have achieved qualifications through the project – e.g. City & Guilds Energy Awareness, Trail 21 d Cycle Leader, etc.

How many people were directly employed by your project. Tell us the full-time 1.5 e equivalent (FTE) number of employees (e.g. 3 days per week = 0.6 FTE).

Is the project is supporting the development of any long-term jobs which are 2 f not dependent of CCF Funding? How many?

How many people are actively involved in your project – attending groups & 1,500 g workshops, using the project facilities etc.?

How many people volunteer their time and energy to keeping the project going 30 h – don’t forget the members of your management committee or board.

How many schools are involved in your project? 11 i

How many miles of car journeys have been reduced through the activities of 1,352,277 your project? car miles

a Total number of events classified in our monitoring system as information or awareness-raising (239 on active travel, 34 on other project themes). b Total number of events classified in our monitoring system as workshop or training (230 on active travel, 14 on other project themes). c Total number of events classified in our monitoring system as workshop, training, information or awareness-raising, but excluding presentations and stalls at other events (total of 33). d Total qualifications awarded: Cycling Scotland Cycle Trainer Plus: 15 CCTs + one volunteer, Velotech Bike Mechanic: 10 CCTs + six volunteers, Trail Cycle Leaders:12 CCTs; assumed to be 15 CCTS and six volunteers who received qualifications. e Project Officers shared one FTE position, other employees in the project were all CCTs who worked approximately 1.5 hours a week on average (around 80 hours a year), which is equivalent to a further 0.5 FTE position (assuming 12 CCTs on average). f Two jobs in Black Isle Bicycles continue beyond the life of the Million Miles project. g Total attendance at all events organised during the project was 7,749 people; this figure includes people who attended multiple events (e.g. cycle training sessions), and so this figure is conservatively divided by five to estimate the number of unique attendees. h Estimate to account for all forms of volunteers during the project (cycle training, event support, Transition Black Isle directors, core project team). i All schools on the Black Isle.

Final report for Transition Black Isle’s Million Miles project – April 2015

This report was written by Peter Elbourne and Marion McDonald, the two Project Officers for the Million Miles campaign. Martin Sherring, Richard Robinson and Wendy Price – the three directors of Transition Black Isle who led on the project – all contributed to overseeing content and reviewing drafts.